Midway approves budget

Joe Parker Jr.
Correspondent

POSTED:January 3, 2011 2:00 p.m.

After a final 17-cent adjustment, the Midway City Council on Wednesday approved a balanced 2011 budget with a total bottom line of $1,682,496.The adjustment was made at the request of city Chief Financial Officer Gwen Lowe, who explained that amounts of less than $1 should be rounded off. The council agreed unanimously, although Mayor Pro Tempore Curtes Roberts said, “To me, a penny is a penny; they add up.”The budget includes a three-percent pay increase for city employees, and a $35,000 line item shows that the enterprise fund that handles water and sewer operations will begin to repay Midway’s general government fund. The enterprise fund is intended to support itself with fee income but in the past has tapped the general fund.For 2011, $864,205,000 was approved for the general government fund and $818,291,000 for the enterprise fund.The revenue projected from state grants was zeroed out for 2011. In 2010, the first year of the present Midway administration, officials encountered confusion over grants applied for but not approved, grants approved but not yet paid and similar problems.In 2010, $25,000 had been projected as state grant revenue, but less than half of that amount was actually received. The zero estimate for 2011 is intended to prevent that confusion.Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the council approved an annual resolution to continue quarterly payments of $2,000 to The Heritage Bank on the city’s $270,150 loan for water and sewer equipment.Midway’s next council meeting is set for 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 10. Continuing discussion about using a private probation company or hiring a city probation officer is expected at that session.